Apple is Removing the USB Power Adapter From Upcoming Apple Watch Boxes (theverge.com) 109
Apple on Tuesday announced it would no longer be including USB power adapters with Apple Watch devices as part of an effort to reduce its environmental impact. From a report: Removing the power adapter means new Apple Watch customers won't have access to the device that plugs into the wall, but they should still receive Apple's custom Apple Watch cable that recharges the device wirelessly. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, this move won't be restricted to Apple Watch devices; it will also include upcoming iPhones.
About time (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
That being said, Apple sells those chargers for $19, so to protect the environment and not have it seem like it was economically motivated, the prices should have been reduced by $19 on the watches
citation needed for "most" (Score:3, Insightful)
Does your wall charger output 12W (type A) or 18W (type C)? I doubt it.
I use all the high-power chargers I've gotten (from iPads or while traveling overseas). Apple should have upgraded the 5W chargers to the better chargers. The cost is negligible and their motto used to be "it just works." As in, everything you need is in the box. This nickel and diming bullshit is good for the stock price but terrible for customer loyalty.
Re: citation needed for "most" (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
This nickel and diming bullshit is good for the stock price but terrible for customer loyalty.
It will also serve nicely to sever any non apple approved interaction with your device.
Re:About time (Score:5, Insightful)
It's fine that Apple is no longer providing the charger in the box. The least that they could do is insert a card for a free charger that you can redeem either at an Apple store or via mail (with postage paid both ways). If the only reason that Apple is not providing the charger in the box is to be more environmentally friendly then they shouldn't have a problem with this proposed solution. If the reason they are doing this is so that they can add a few extra dollars profit I say shame on them. They are sitting on enough cash that they can easily afford to include a voucher for a free charger. They would probably still increase there profits over shipping the charger in the box (not everyone will redeem the voucher).
Re: (Score:2)
No, because then people will send in the card whether they actually need the adapter or not ("hey, free stuff!") - so they can turn around and sell it on either eBay or Amazon Marketplace.
If humans were a more logical species, though, I'd agree with you.
Re:About time (Score:4, Insightful)
So how is it an environmental 'waste', if someone on ebay legitimately puts it to good use?
> If humans were a more logical species
Oh, this is one of those ironic meta posts?
Re: (Score:3)
So how is it an environmental 'waste', if someone on ebay legitimately puts it to good use?
Because most of them are never sold on eBay.
I have a crate of excess USB chargers. Many dozens. Perhaps more than a hundred accumulated over the last few decades.
I will never sell them on eBay because it isn't worth my time.
Someday I will toss them in the trash. Until then, they gather dust in my garage.
Re:About time (Score:4, Insightful)
>> So how is it an environmental 'waste', if someone on ebay legitimately puts it to good use?
> Because most of them are never sold on eBay.
Then don't order the adapter and don't sell it on ebay.
List/sell the card. If no one buys it, throw is away. If someone buys it, send them the card and they can redeem the adapter direct. This would also save on shipping fees.
Next up... world hunger...
Re: (Score:2)
So how is it an environmental 'waste', if someone on ebay legitimately puts it to good use?
We should use more plastic. Afterall it's "recyclable" and "reusable" right? The fact that we don't actually do either in even a remotely sufficient capacity is irrelevant according to you right?
Seriously selling a charger second hand? I think we on Slashdot should start keeping lists of things that people simply don't do.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Wireless charging of a watch is totally the way to go. I have quite a long sequence of Garmin watches, and every one develops charging problems eventually, presumably because the charging contacts are soaked in sweat and grime every use.
Re: (Score:3)
It *would* be fine, if they would switch to using a ubiquitous connector like usb c instead of a lightning port.
Otherwise just they are trading the environmental impact of supplying a charging cable for the environmental impact of drawing more power to charge wirelessly than what could be achieved via cable charging.
Either way, the consumer pays for it.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Having everything you might need jammed into one carboard box is better for the environment than packing them separately.
And if you
Re:About time (Score:4, Informative)
prices should have been reduced by $19 on the watches.
If you think prices are based on cost, perhaps you should educate yourself by reading some books on marketing and microeconomics.
Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)
Cue the Apple fans who will gamely try to put a good spin on this (and fail).
Iâ(TM)m OK with this (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
An official Apple 10W charger is 20 bucks from a reputable retailer (not Amazon). So I'd be okay with it if they reduced the price by that much.
Re:Iâ(TM)m OK with this (Score:4, Informative)
So I'd be okay with it if they reduced the price by that much.
Are you going to change your purchasing decision based on the price difference?
If not, why should Apple care?
My spouse has an Apple Watch. So bought it so all her friends can see her wearing it. A higher price makes it more impressive as a fashion statement, so the higher price makes it more desirable.
I'd wager that there are more people like her than people like you.
An Apple Watch is a Veblen good [wikipedia.org].
Re: (Score:2)
My spouse has an Apple Watch. So bought it so all her friends can see her wearing it. A higher price makes it more impressive as a fashion statement, so the higher price makes it more desirable.
This right here is the problem. They don't have to make it good when they know people will spend whatever they ask just for the logo so they can say to all their friends, oh look how cool and amazing I am because I have the right logo, wooooo. They know that and that's why an apple product is, at best, only just good enough but because they are a fashion device the logically challeneged assume it must be good because lots of people have them and they are expensive. It's just diamonds v2. Kids got savvy to s
Re: (Score:2)
Environmental friendship at its best!
Good (Score:2)
I have half a dozen Apple power adapters lying around. The cables however...
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Strain relief plugs are not sexy and smooth enough. Nevermind that it causes you to have to buy a new cable every 1.5 years.
Re: (Score:1)
> Strain relief plugs are not sexy and smooth enough.
Uhh... dude, even though they're both plugs 'strain relief' can not be substituted for 'butt'.
Re: (Score:2)
What are you doing to your cables? (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Good (Score:3)
Because the sh*t charger they include is worthless anyway. First thing I do is buy (or use one I already have) a decent fast charger.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Stick the watch in the microwave, and it will be fully chaged in five minutes.
Make sure you also put it in a metal bowl and the extra reflected quantum nano energy reflections will cause it to charge in half that time to ten times the capacity. One charge will last a week. Money back guarantee.
Re: (Score:2)
Even at 5W the watch charges from dead to full in under an hour.
And how long does that last?
Re: (Score:2)
Bullshit (Score:5, Insightful)
This will be ALL about profit margins, keep the price the same but include less product.
Yeah, I have multiple chargers, but they are in multiple places, I even have one in the car in case I am somewhere and need a charger
Re: Bullshit (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Just a slice, not the whole apple.
Re: (Score:2)
What, because you need another charger that puts 5VDC onto a USB-A port? You don't already have a shit ton of them from everything else you've bought in the last 10 years?
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re:Bullshit (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Well that is until my MBP 13", everything is soldered onto the board.
Upgrade, Repair, Reuse all come well before recycle.
Re: (Score:1)
Well that is until my MBP 13", everything is soldered onto the board.
Probably in BGA packages too, which are a pain even for professional PCBA manufacturers. I've heard that you pretty much need X-ray to verify the soldering on those. They're used because they offer such high densities.
Re:Bullshit (Score:5, Informative)
I've heard that you pretty much need X-ray to verify the soldering on those.
You need an X-ray to verify the soldering of any BGA device. But it is not limited to BGA, any device package where you can not directly see the solder joints requires an X-ray to verify. It is not really attributed to high densities although higher pin counts do represent more possible faults.
But the X-ray is only really used at the start of a production run. You make some boards and use the X-ray to verify that the soldering profile being used is sufficient. Different PCBs have different thermal characteristics so you never really know a solder profile is good until you try it. Once verified, multiple boards can be assembled without using an X-ray on each board.
When installing individual parts, the X-ray is often skipped. You only heat the specific part of the board you are soldering to and you can manually verify that the IC reflows onto the board. You just look through the microscope and watch for when the solder balls melt and the IC "drops" into place. All 4 sides need to "drop" into place. Then, heat it up just a bit more and you are done. If the board now works correctly then the soldering job was a success. There is no real need to X-ray at this point because it is a one-of job / product.
But if you have BGA devices then you probably also have a complex PCB where traces are often hidden. Multiple layers, hidden vias, via in pads, etc. So you never know if an IC is blown or there is a board fault due to a broken trace. Perhaps a trace breaks when removing an IC - it is very easy to do. The odds of a successful repair go down and it becomes even more desirable to not even bother trying.
Re: (Score:2)
I've heard that you pretty much need X-ray to verify the soldering on those.
That's just standard QC for a high end electronics manufacturer, not any kind of obscene requirement. The equipment needed to do that fits on a desk (though it's usually floor standing with a cabinet underneath).
Re:Bullshit (Score:4, Informative)
Frankly they're the best device company when it comes to supporting their products. Lack of repairability is an issue, but they're pretty robust and if you take care of them they'll last longer than anything else on the market.
Re: (Score:3)
If it was all about being "Green" Apple would get rid of all the plastic and polystyrene packaging in their products.
They largely have. Almost all of the packaging is paper, or non-oil derived plastic. There's very little plastic left, except for the keys of their keyboards and the Pencils.
Re: (Score:2)
Then there is the black foam glued onto the lids of packaging
All the plastic wrapping around every item
Re: (Score:2)
I just watched a couple of unboxing videos. I haven't opened an iMac in years. I didn't know it had polystyrene.
Most of the other products have some sort of weird paper as packaging.
Re: (Score:3)
Yeah, I would believe that Apple was really doing this for "environmental" reasons if they offered you the choice of including a charger in your order for free at the time of purchase.
The fact that they want to charge you $20 for one now means that this is really about boosting profit margins to keep the shareholders happy.
Re: (Score:3)
Yup a lot of the "green" intiatives are blatant profit plays -- else they would have a price reduction with it. I mean, you go to even supposedly high end hotels and they don't replace the sheets out "to be green".
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
What, why should I pick one? It depends on the situation. It can be economical in some situations, and not in others .. isn't that obvious? If you have a gold cup, it might be a economical to re-use it. If it's toilet paper, it might be more economical to discard it.
Re: (Score:2)
Apparently Apple believes
- their branded chargers and cables never fail.
- no one uses or needs multiples.
- being green does not include making their products repairable
Side note: in an unrelated development, the already over-inflated retail costs of Apple cables, and chargers, will go up, a lot.
Re: (Score:2)
If it was all about being "Green" Apple would get rid of all the plastic and polystyrene packaging in their products.
It sounds like you haven't bought an Apple product in at least the past several years. The packaging is almost all paper and cardboard - even for the laptops.
Re: (Score:2)
1 big piece at the top holding the screen and 2 smaller pieces holding the base.
1 x piece of plastic covering the hole the power cable is in.
1x piece of plastic covering the screen/front of iMac
etc.
Laptop boxes have a plastic tray in them + plastic wrapping on the power supply and another piece around the power cables.
Then there are the trow away Apple stickers + blurb inside the card packaging for it all.
Re: Bullshit (Score:2)
They have been making efforts with that. It's actually kind of annoying because the headphones now come coiled around a piece of cardboard, which isn't reusable. Meanwhile I still have an old plastic holder that I use for storing my headphones in my bag as it makes them last longer and avoids me struggling to untangle them when Iâ(TM)m trying to join a meeting. And no, I won't join the brigade of people who disrupt meetings because the battery life of AirPods isn't sufficient for the daily round of
Environmentally conscious! (Score:2)
Same great price!
Re: (Score:2)
Think of all the trees that will be saved because you can pay with all high denomination notes.
Oh, electronic transactions? It saves energy to transmit zeros.
Re: (Score:2)
Same great price!
You obviously don't know Apple very well. There will probably be a $20 environmental consciousness fee added on.
Re: (Score:2)
Inductive, not wireless (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
Are there wires between the charger and the device being charged?
Is there a magnetic field being radiated from the charger, which can induce an electric current in the device being charged?
What's your problem with calling it 'wireless charging' again? Why does a magnetic field deserve less consideration than a radio wave or light pulse?
Re: (Score:2)
I'm not sure I see the distinction, no wires are involved, hence, wireless. The fact it needs to be in close proximity doesn't change this. IrDA required close proximity too, but it was still wireless.
It does require wires and plugging in (Score:1)
It doesn't require plugging in wires
If you think you are bothered by inductive charging being called wireless, you should see my dismay at the claim it doesn't require plugging in, and has no wires... the inductive pad that ships with an Apple Watch very much requires being plugged into a USB port, and is made of of wires.
it is a little handier being able to not have to find a small plug on a device to charge the Watch. But I still prefer using a charging cable on my iPhone, rather than the inductive abili
Re: (Score:2)
that implies that energy is being beamed to the device.
It's not being beamed very far, but it literally is - in the form of electromagnetic radiation. It very exactly fits that definition.
This had already been confirmed 3 months ago (Score:1)
This has already been confirmed
https://mobile.slashdot.org/st... [slashdot.org]
In future news ... (Score:5, Funny)
Apple on Tuesday announced it would no longer be including USB power adapters with Apple Watch devices as part of an effort to reduce its environmental impact. ... but they should still receive Apple's custom Apple Watch cable that recharges the device wirelessly.
To further reduce the environmental impact of charging, Apple announces that their devices will be delivered with a full battery charge, but will not be able to be recharged. Users will be able to exchange depleted devices for fresh ones at any Apple store. A spokesperson commented that the switch to single-charge devices will greatly reduce the environmental impact and logistics of chargers and cables.
Re: (Score:2)
Apple's True Motivations (Score:3)
But if Apple truly cared at all about the environment, they would allow their customers to upgrade and replace the memory and storage in their laptops. Worse yet, when the memory or storage in a MacBook fails, they require you to pay for a whole new board instead of just the component that failed. If they really cared about reducing waste, they wouldn't ignore industry-standard integrated circuits in their computers for the purpose of using proprietary chips which can be prevented from getting into the hands of third-party repair services who could help extend the life of the device.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think excluding USB power adapters is inherently a bad move. Most people already have at least one power adapter at this point and it will definitely cut down on waste. I'm just calling attention to Apple's true motivations here.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
I can't speak for Stonent1 but I know that such a ridiculous thought never entered my head.
You don't understand the balance then (Score:1)
I guess you don't know much about product design then, usually not a penny is wasted - they knew the power adaptors were not going into the package, which freed budget to add other small elements to the device itself.
It's insane to think that Apple of all companies is not tying the cost of every single thing (including the box itself) together for consideration - a change in price of one element affects all others. Removing one part frees up some resources, however small, for some other aspect of the packa
Re: (Score:2)
Over the entire production run, their profit margin ends up huge (starting a production line is expensive). The $1250 iPhone XS Max has been estimated to have a production cost of only $450. [forbes.com] Even if you factor in R&D, that practically disappears with the volume they do.
Their pricing is based on much less tangible things - like user experience and exclusivity.
Sure, let's bring on wireless charging (Score:2)
... because that's been shown to be so much more efficient than charging by cable!
Preempting upcoming EU regulation (Score:2)
There is an ongoing process in the EU that might result in a regulation that would require future mobile devices to use a common standard for charging and not bundle a charger in the box.
Apple uses USB Power Delivery with a USB-C socket in the charger, even though the device could use have either a Lightning or USB-C socket.
USB-PD is the most supported common standard on the device ends, supported also by recent versions of QuickCharge and VOOC (and all the different rebrandings of those).
By Apple being one
Apple is just changing (Score:2)
Wireless cable? (Score:2)
Inefficient (Score:2)
Speaking of environmental impact, isn't the wireless charger a lot less energy efficient?
Re: (Score:2)
> Speaking of environmental impact, isn't the wireless charger a lot less energy efficient?
If we're going to be that anal about saving electricity, then you need to stop commenting to save the environment:
https://lifehacker.com/how-muc... [lifehacker.com]
Everyone says.. (Score:2)
Everyone says they don't mind this because they have a drawer full of adapters at home.
How did you get that drawer full of adapters? By getting them free with devices.
And where will you get a future drawer full of adapters if nobody includes them with devices anymore?
Re: (Score:2)
If Apple were remotely serious about this "environmental impact" bullshit, they would switch the iphone from lightning to USB-C.
Otherwise all they are doing is passing environmental impact costs to the consumer who must either purchase a cable or else be nickled and dimed over the lifetime of the device on account of wireless charging drawing more power.
Re: (Score:3)
They're still including the cable, it's the USB "brick" that plugs into the wall socket they're leaving out and Apple uses standard USB ones for those.
Re: (Score:2)
Buy a few of them for $3 a piece on Amazon (or eBay, if you want to be eco-friendly and buy second hand). Drawer of chargers established. It's not like they're a rare commodity, or have an expiration date.
I also wouldn't be surprised if wall outlets with built-in USB ports become more commonplace in new builds.
Why? (Score:2)
Such a bold move. (Score:1)
I'm glad at least Louis Rossman exposes the nonsense spewing from Apple about repair.
Reduce your impact even more (Score:2)
Quit putting out so many goddamned new things every fucking year. A good-sized chunk of the planet's pollution is directly attributable to Apple.
No discount on the price of the product though. (Score:2)
Pretty sure this is going to cause more (Score:2)
Why? Well for one, people will still want to plug in, so they'll buy a separate charger/adapter, which means an extra set of packaging, possibly in a less environmentally-friendly package than the cardboard boxes Apple uses. That's right, by not including their own, Apple is driving consumers to purchase more individually packaged products. Probably in those plastic clamshells. Apple gets to pretend they're reducing their impact, but they're just making someone else's worse
Pretty sure this is going to have a greater impact (Score:2)
Most it this is rubbish in the end... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)